


Doing It Right

by Clare_Hope



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Communication, Crying (just a little bit), F/M, First Kiss, Kissing, post Legato Conservatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 15:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20622980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clare_Hope/pseuds/Clare_Hope
Summary: Lup and Barry "talk". Then they really talk. (Alternate title: "Taking It Slow".)





	Doing It Right

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself that I wasn't going to post any TAZ fic until I got a few more chapters of the high school AU I'm working on done, but then I wrote 2k of Blupjeans smooching and telling each other how much they love each other and...I'm just soft for these two, okay?

The song they had played together continued to resonate between them as they left the ceremony to "talk". They hadn't done any talking yet. Lup and Barry were holding hands, but they weren't talking about that. They were walking to the Starblaster as opposed to the conservatory, but they weren't talking about that either. And both of them wanted nothing more than to talk about the fact that right before they had gone to the ceremony, after their very last rehearsal together, they had kissed. But they weren't talking.

The stars glittered in Lup's eyes as she looked up briefly. Standing next to the ship, she was reminded of their situation. A seemingly endless cycle of world after world, plane after plane, death after death...but even though they didn't age, it had been almost fifty years since leaving home. Fifty years spent together. That was a lot of time to have known someone. It was a lot of time to have been in love with someone without acknowledging it, too.

"Lup," Barry said, and somehow the single syllable was enough to convey endless depths of love, admiration, and fondness.

"Are we going inside?" she replied.

"Unless we want to talk out here."

She looked up at the sky again. "It's pretty out here."

Barry was looking at her. "Yeah."

Casting a glance at him, she laughed. "You're such a romantic."

"I'm in love with you."

It was the first time either of them had said it out loud to the other. "I would hope so, silly," Lup responded. "I'm in love with you, too."

Tears of joy welled up in his eyes.

"Babe, you already  _ knew _ that!" Lup laughed, cupping her hands around his cheeks and wiping the tears away.

"Yeah, but I still liked hearing it," he sniffed.

"I am going to kiss you again now," Lup informed him.

"Not if I kiss you first."

They met in the middle. Like children, they giggled as their noses bumped together and Barry's glasses got in the way. Despite a little clumsiness, it felt right.

"Okay, let's go inside," Lup whispered after a few minutes. Her heart was beating fast.

They ended up in Barry's room. It was the closest to the entrance of the ship, and they didn't want to waste time. As soon as the door closed behind them (not that there would be anyone else on the ship tonight, but it didn't feel right to leave it open), Lup's back was against the wall and they were kissing again. She grabbed Barry's hips and held him firmly against herself.

"Lup," he said breathlessly. "I thought we were going to talk?"

"We can talk, if you'd rather, but I think our mouths could be better occupied," Lup pointed out.

"Can't argue with that--mmph!" Barry smiled into her mouth as she kissed him again.

Neither of them, of course, had kissed anyone in a long time. The eagerness with which they pressed their bodies together revealed how much they had missed this kind of contact over the half century since they left, as well as how much they were enjoying finally, finally being able to touch each other like this. After almost half an hour of hungry kisses, they calmed down. The kisses turned slower and sweeter. Barry's jacket somehow ended up on the floor.

"This is so nice," sighed Lup. "Barry. Barry, I love you. Why didn't we do this years ago?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "We were scared, I think."

"There's nothing scary about this." She bumped their foreheads together softly. "This is the opposite of scary. This is  _ safe _ . This is good."

He stroked her hair. "You're right." Barry looked at her with wonder and something akin to disbelief. "Lup. You're incredible."

"You're a flatterer," she teased. "You don't need to butter me up or flirt, babe, I'm already kissing you."

"I'm not flirting, I'm stating facts. And the fact is, you're amazing. You're  _ stunning _ . You are one of the most, if not  _ the _ most powerful person I've ever known, and  _ gods _ , girl, I love you." He tilted his head up to kiss her.

"I don't--know how to use words like that," Lup confessed. "That's not how I do things. Not usually."

"That's okay--"

"In fact, I'll probably just embarrass myself if I try, because I don't know what words could possibly explain how highly I think of you." Lup grabbed his hands. "I want you to know that. I think you are brilliant, and beautiful, and I love how you're just quiet enough that when you say something loudly, it makes everyone shut up."

Barry turned pink.

"And I love that you  _ blush _ ," Lup laughed, kissing the tip of his nose. "You're adorable. And I love you."

"I'm not bl--yeah, I'm blushing." His ears went even more red. "Damn."

An overwhelming wave of affection washed over her and she tackled him, launching both of them onto the bed in the corner. Lup made sure he didn't hit his head as he fell backwards and then settled herself comfortably sitting on his thighs. "Barold, if you turn any more red, I think you might just spontaneously combust," she informed him.

He squeaked. "Oh?"

"Oh, indeed," she murmured, and she leaned down to kiss him, twining their fingers together.

They spent several more minutes kissing and shifting around, trying to find the position that their bodies fit together the best. When they were both on their sides, facing each other, their legs tangled together and their hands exploring each other's faces and torsos, they agreed wordlessly that this was perfect. It was comfortable. Neither of them had to reach very far to touch the other.

Lup tried to gently take Barry's glasses off his face.

"I need those to  _ see _ ," Barry protested.

"Shh, shh, shh, babe. You don't need perfect vision to kiss me. Just close your eyes." She reached over him to put the glasses on the bedside table. "There, now they're not hitting my face. Shh, just kiss me again."

Forgetting about the loss of his glasses, Barry kissed her. His hand slid over her waist and started to move down towards where the flair of her red skirt had ridden up to her thigh.

"Barry--"

"No?"

Lup didn't know why she had frozen. She focused on the comforting weight of Barry's hand just below her hip. "Sorry. No, yes, it's okay. Keep going."

"Only if you're sure." He proceeded more cautiously, only sliding his hand under her dress to rest it on the skin of her back to pull her closer.

That was nice.  _ Really _ nice. "Actually, can I just take the dress off?" she whispered.

"I--if you want to!"

"Yeah, I do. Help me with the buttons on the back?" She lay still as he unbuttoned the dress for her. Managing to wriggle out of it, she tossed it to the ground. "Much better. I could hardly breathe in that--Barry?"

He reached out to trail his fingertips down the side of her face. "You're beautiful," he said softly.

"You're not wearing your glasses," she pointed out with a snort. "But thank you."

"You were right that I don't need perfect vision to kiss you. Can I kiss you now?"

"Of course. We've already been kissing, I don't think you needed to ask again."

Barry pressed their lips together quickly. "I know, but now you're not wearing your dress. Just wanted to check."

"You are  _ so sweet _ , come here." Lup tugged him closer, carefully untucking his shirt so that she could also touch his bare skin. "Okay?"

He nodded, breath stuttering as she caressed his side. "Absolutely."

"You're soft," she said admiringly. She kissed his cheek and moved her hand further up under his shirt.

"Is that a good thing?" Barry asked. It seemed like it was getting harder for him to articulate his words. "I…"

"It's a  _ very _ good thing, Barry," Lup promised. "I like soft things. Soft blankets, soft cats, soft people."  She kept kissing him. Their pace changed from slow to quick again, then back to slow, and then back to the feverish pace of when they had first started. It was...a lot. Every touch started to burn. Not in a bad way, not like it was painful, but like something else: like if they kept going like this, the candle would snuff itself out and it would go dark and cold. "Barry," she said breathlessly.

"Mmm?"

"Can we slow down?"

He quickly pulled back, leaving his hand on the side of her face and brushing her hair back so he could look at her. "Of course, Lup. Are you alright?"

Trying to catch her breath, she nodded. She rolled onto her back and lay there, panting. "I haven't done this in a while," she admitted.

"Well--no, me neither. We've been stuck on a spaceship for fifty years trying to save each new world we land on, it's not like we've had much time to do this since we left home," Barry replied.

"No…" Lup tried to explain. "Even before we left. Babe, you know I was...I was already about a hundred and forty years old when we left?"

"You...well, you're an elf. I guess I expected something like that," he said.

"I haven't…" Lup felt some heat rising to her cheeks. "Barry. I haven't been in a relationship since I was eighty."

Barry coughed. "That's…"

"A long ass time, I know. That's a hundred and ten years, counting the cycles." She found his hand and held it tightly, still staring up at the ceiling. "Me and Taako, we didn't have much opportunity for dating. For one thing, we had each other, and that was enough for both of us for most of our lives. And for another…"

"I'm listening," Barry said softly after a few moments of hesitation.

"Ha. Thanks, babe. Um, the other thing was that...we were too busy trying to survive on a day to day basis. No time for flirting when you don't know where your next meal is coming from, and if there  _ was _ flirting, it was to get that next meal. A pretty young elf winks at you, you take them out to dinner, you get up to find the bathroom and then when you get back...poof, the food is gone, leaving you with the bill, and the twins book it out of town," Lup rambled. "Taako was better at that than I was, anyway. I'd rather put on magic shows. Y'ever see how enamored a human kid gets when you cast Dancing Lights for them? Just a silly little useless cantrip, but they'd throw their pocket money at me before their parents could shoo them away."

"Lup…"

She cleared her throat. "But  _ anyway _ , the relevant bit is that I've never exactly...been in love. Before you. I liked the couple of people I dated when I was younger, but I didn't love them. Sometimes I thought I'd never  _ love _ anyone. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"So--and this sounds  _ so  _ stupid, because we've literally waited fifty years--can we...take it slow?" Her voice quavered as she asked it.

"Yes. Of course, Lup. We have  _ nothing _ but time."

"Is it enough?"  _ Am I enough? _ is what she was trying to ask.  _ Is what I'm willing to give, at the pace I'm willing to give it...is it enough? _

He didn't answer right away. Instead, he asked his own question. "Lup, may I hug you?"

"Oh--sure. Yeah, I'd like that, actually." She rolled onto her side, letting him wrap his arms around her. 

Barry's breath brushed softly over the back of her neck as he held her. He put his hands over hers and they lay there silently for a few minutes. "Lup," he started. "Lup, if this is all we do for the next ten cycles-- _ hundred _ cycles, thousand--it's enough. More than enough, it's perfect. I love you, Lup, and I will love all of you that you want to share with me, for as long as we can possibly share it. It is always enough, because it's you."

Unexpectedly, she felt her eyes fill with hot tears. If her makeup wasn't already probably smudged to hell and back, she would have been worried about her mascara running into her eyes as she let out a quiet sob.

"Oh no. Lup? Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she said, laughing through her tears. "No, Barry, you said everything just right. Just perfectly right."

He hummed, happy and content with that response, and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. "I'm glad," he whispered. "I want to do this right."

"I don't think you need to worry," Lup said. "Nothing that feels this perfect could ever be anything but right."

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr @johannsviolin for art and memes!


End file.
